International Journal of Advancements in Research & Technology, Volume 1, Issue 5, October-2012 1

ISSN 2278-7763

The Growing Rural-Urban Disparity in India: Some Issues

Dr. Dinesh Das1 & Minakshee Pathak2
1
Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Gossaigaon College, Kokrajhar, Assam
2
Assistant Professor, Department of Education, Gossaigaon College, Kokrajhar, Assam

ABSTRACT
The paper critically examines the understanding, approach and indicators that have been used to measure the degree of dispari-
ty. It is fact that disparity exists everywhere. However, this paper highlights on disparities existing between rural and urban
areas. In this context, it talks about ‘why’ and ‘how’ disparities exist between rural and urban areas. The study suggests that
‘income’ is not a sufficient indicator to capture the magnitude of disparities at any level. It is, therefore, necessary to develop
some indicators representing human resource development and infrastructure facility to understand the growing rural-urban
disparity in India.

Keywords : Disparity, HRD, Gender Issues, India

1 INTRODUCTION

R URAL-urban disparities, particularly in post-colonial

countries, have for long been one of the causes of concern
for the policymakers. The disparities are seen in all
• To examine the status of women in rural and urban India.
3 METHODOLOGY
The present study is based on secondary data collection.
spheres of human life-economic and non-economic. The ex- The secondary data was collected by various published
tent of disparities, however, differs from country to country. sources like Census Report, NSS Report, Economic Survey,
India is the largest democracy with consistent economic Demographic and Health Surveys, Human Development Re-
growth rate since independence. India is also third largest port, Books, Journal, Magazine, etc. The findings were dis-
scientific and technological workforce. In agriculture India cussed in the light of published literature.
produces sugar, groundnut, tea, fruits, rice, wheat, vegetables
and milk in a large scale. With regard to demographic profile
more than 720 billion i.e. one third of its population live in 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
rural areas. Despite these developments, there is a wide gap The total land area of India is 2,973,190 Sq.Km. Of which
between rural and urban India with respect to technology, 70% of area comes under Rural area which consists of 6,40,867
living condition, economic empowerment etc. Many in rural villages. Out of this 5,98,000 are inhabited villages. There are
India lack access to education, nutrition, health care, sanita- only 7,935 towns and 4,041 urban areas as per 2011 Census of
tion, land and other assets and they are trapped into poverty. India.
In rural India there is high number of Infant Mortality with From the below Table 1, we can understand that rural pop-
low Life Expectancy at Birth Rate. Rural India mostly depends ulation constitute more than one third of the total population
on agricultural sector. The growth rate in agricultural sector of India. But with respect to other development indicators
(primary sector) is 2-3% when compared to secondary and ter- rural India is far behind. This we can understand from the
tiary sector which are growing at the rate of 8-12%. Due to this following socio-development indicators.
there is a large scale migration of labour forces from rural to
urban in search of employment. 8-12% growth rate in the sec- Table 1
ondary and tertiary sector help Urban India as an emerging Population in India
global information based economy still urbanization of poverty
India Total Male Female
is a major concern. In this paper an attempt is made to study
Total 1210193422 623724248 586469174
the rural-urban disparity with the help of selected socio-
economic indicators. Apart from this, condition of women in (51.5%) (48.5%)
rural-urban area is also discussed in this paper. Rural 833087662 51.4% 48.6%
(68.8%)
Urban 377105760 51.9% 48.1%
2 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY (31.2%)
• To explain the nature of rural-urban disparity; Source: Census of India, 2011
• To analyse rural-urban disparity on the basis of select so-
cio-economic indicators; and

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International Journal of Advancements in Research & Technology, Volume 1, Issue 5, October-2012
ISSN 2278-7763
SEX RATIO
The sex ratio is the proportion of females to males in a giv-
en population, usually expressed as the number of females
per 1000 males. In India the sex ratio as per 2011 Census is 940
female per 1000 males. In rural area this number is 947 fe-
males per 1000 males but in urban area this ratio is lower than
all India average. This obviously shows that the urbanization
process in India does not bring desired social changes and did
not bring any positive attitudinal change towards women.
Advanced technologies influenced the urban masses to termi-
nate the girl child in the foetus itself. High mortality of wom-
en during pregnancy is also one of the reasons for low sex
ratio. We can substantiate this argument by looking at the
overall maternal mortality rate in India. This coupled with
gender bias at health care and less social attention to girl child
results in missing women. The sex ratio in India is shown in
Table 2.
Table 2
Sex Ratio
India 940
Rural 947
Urban 926
Source Census of India, 2011
LITERACY RATE
Education plays a pivotal role in laying a proper founda-
tion for the overall social and economic development of any
region. No single nation in the world with illiterate and uned-
ucated people is developed or advanced. Education is an in-
vestment that contributes to individual and social develop-
ment. Many developing countries have achieved universal
primary education enrolment as a result of their efforts over
the past decades. In particular last 50 years many developing
countries invested more resources in education. The rate of
growth of educational system exceeded the rate of economic
growth. As per the Millennium Development Goals the fol-
lowing targets are proposed to be achieved by the year 2015.
1. All children to complete full course of five years of pri-
mary education.
2. Eliminate Gender disparity in primary and secondary
education by 2005 and in all education by 2015.
After independence India started its planning process but
the impact of colonial legacy influenced our educational
system but still we concentrate on achieving universal pri-
mary education, mass education, adult education etc. The
constitution of India has resolved to provide free universal
primary education. It stated that “the state shall Endeavour to
provide, within a period of 10 years from the commencement
of this constitution, for free and compulsory education for all
children until they complete the age of 14 years (Article 45).
From the first five year plan onwards, Government of India
concentrated on education as well as economic growth. But
only in the year 1966 the Kothari commission stressed the re-
lationship between education and productivity and the critical
Copyright © 2012 SciResPub.
2
role of education in National development clearly. The fifth
five year plan recognized education as a key factor in produc-
tion. However, many countries are still far from achieving this
goal. The 42nd amendment to the constitution in 1976 brought
education which was largely a state responsibility into the
concurrent list making the education as the responsibility of
both the state and centre. The 73rd and 74th constitutional
amendment stressed the greater role of Panchayats in edu-
cation especially elementary education and the 86th
amendment to the constitution in the year 2002 made educa-
tion as a fundamental right.
The following Table 3 shows the percentage of literate
population. This will help us to understand where India
stands in its educational status.
Table 3
Literacy Rate
India Total Male Female
Total 74.0% 82.1% 65.5%
Rural 68.9% 78.6% 58.8%
Urban 85.0% 89.7% 79.9%
Source: Census of India, 2011
Literacy is an effective tool for empowerment. The follow-
ing factors like women’s education, women’s ownership pat-
tern, employment opportunities and the working of the la-
bour market are important for empowerment. All internation-
al conferences like Beijing Platform for Action, Millennium
summit have given importance to literacy. If human beings
are educated their productivity will increase and they concen-
trate on their well-being. In India only 68.9% of people are
literate in rural areas. Where as this percentage is higher in
urban areas which accounts for 85.0%. In rural areas percent-
age of male literate is 78.6% nearing urban literacy percentage.
But literacy among women in rural area is very low. This also
contributed to the low development of socio-economic indica-
tors in rural areas. In spite of several measures taken by both
central and state government, literacy rate remains to be low
in India, particularly in Rural India. This is reflecting in all
educational indicators also
GENDER DISPARITY IN PRIMARY SCHOOL
With regard to educational indicators in primary, second-
ary and tertiary level rural India is lagging behind urban In-
dia. The Right to Education Act (RTE) passed in August 2009
has committed the Government of India to the provision of
free and compulsory education to all Indian children. To
measure the educational status at the school level there are
several indicators. With regard to Net attendance Rate there is
not much difference between rural and urban areas, among
male and female in urban India and male Net attendance rate
is higher than female. Several studies cited the reasons for the
low attendance rate in rural areas. Familial commitment, mi-
gration, climate induced disasters, famine and poverty led the
girl children to abandon schools in rural areas. Rapid urbani-
zation and globalization led to the development of many
slums in the urban India. Children in urban areas are also lack
access to schools.
IJOART
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ISSN 2278-7763

birth rate, death rate, total fertility are, percentage of anemia,

Table 4 Doctor-patient ratio are used. Government of India collects
Net Attendance Rate-Primary these data regularly and analyze and publish. These data are
India Total Male Female published in the form of National Family Health Survey and
Total 88.3% 85.2% 81.4% District Level Household Survey. Being a signatory of all UN
Rural 81.5% - - conferences and summits, Government of India is taking
Urban 88.5% - - number of measures to improve the health status and to min-
Source: Demographic and Health Survey, 2005-06 imize the rural-urban disparity.

Like primary school the net attendance rate of secondary Table 6

school in rural areas is very low and it is only 49.1 %. This Percentage of Anaemia
figure is slightly higher in urban areas. But the figure is not India Total Rural Urban
promising in both rural and urban areas TFR 2.7 3.0 2.1
Children 6-35 months who are 78.9 80.9 72.2
Table 5 anaemic
Net Attendance Rate-Secondary
Ever married women age 15-49 56.2 58.2 51.5
India Rural Urban
who are anaemic
Total 49.1% 64.2%
Pregnant women age 15-49 57.9 59.0 54.6
Source: Demographic and Health Surveys, 2005-06 who are anaemic
Ever married men age 15-49 24.3 27.7 17.2
HEALTH who are anaemic
Status of health shows the development of the society. This Source: NFHS-3, 2005-06
health status is influenced by different indicators like em-
ployment, income, educational attainment, social groups, lev-
el of awareness, accessibility to health care and availability of Table 7
health services. Poor health leads to deficiency in human ca- Availability of Facilities
pabilities and it also shows the level of deprivation among the India Total Rural Urban
people. There is a close linkage between health and poverty % of Households that have 70.3 59.8 92.2
and health and development but the relationship is very com- Electricity
plex. So the poor health is considered as the major constraint Have access to Toilet Facility 49.3 34.1 80.8
of development. Health being the basic rights of all individu- Live in a Kachcha House 35.5 46.4 12.9
als, they are entitled to have quality health care service, safe Live in a Pucca House 32.7 19.6 60.2
drinking water, sanitation and so on. It becomes the obligation Improved source of Drinking 84.4 79.6 94.4
of the government to care for the health condition of the peo- Water
ple. Lowest Wealth Quintile 20.0 24.9 2.7
Health is wealth. Good health and nutritional status is one Highest Wealth Quintile 20.0 9.9 55.3
of the indicators of the overall well being of population and Mean age at Marriage for Boys 24.0 23.4 25.5
human resources development, and also an important com-
Mean age at Marriage for Girls 19.8 19.2 21.2
ponent of human capability. In few states like Kerala, Tamil
Births to Women during age 5.6 6.4 3.5
Nadu in India there has been a significant improvement in the
15-19 out of Total Births
health and nutritional status. Over the last two decades India
had a steady improvement in the health condition of its peo- Mothers who received and 75.2 70.6 87.1
ple. But the percentage of underweight children and severely Antenatal Checkups
malnourished children is alarming. India has number of pro- Institutional Delivery 47.0 37.9 70.5
grammes for childhood care for survival growth and devel- Delivery at Home 52.3 61.3 29.0
opment and better nutritional status of pregnant and lactating Child Immunization-Children 54.0 50.4 63.1
women. 12-23 months fully Immunized
However, sub-clinical malnutrition incidence of low Source: DHS, 2005-06
weight for age, anaemia, disability and hunger still continues
Access to safe water refers to percentage of the population
to prevail among children in the lower socio-economic sec-
who use any of the following types of water supply for drink-
tions of the population particularly in rural India. This pre-
ing: piped water, public tap; borehole/pump; protected well;
vents them from reaching their full potential as vibrant and
protected spring; rainwater. Improved water sources not in-
productive adults. Among upper socio-economic groups in
clude vendor-provided waters, bottled water, tanker trucks,
urban India new problems of malnutrition such as obesity are
and unprotected wells and springs. The numerator is the
manifesting themselves which arise out of increased con-
number of persons who use any of the following types of wa-
sumption of processed and refined foods combined with sed-
ter supply for drinking: piped water, public tap; bore-
entary life styles. This leads to great rural-urban divide in the
hole/pump; protected well; protected spring; rainwater. The
health status. To measure the health status indicators like
denominator is the total population.

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The Indian state has the primary responsibility to sup-
ply safe drinking water to all the people in the country irre-
spective of their place of habitat. But the situation is far from
desirable. The National Sample Survey (NSS) data (1998, 5th
round) shows that while 70.1 per cent of urban dwellers have
access to piped water, in the case of the rural people it is as
low as 18.7 per cent. Data on rural-urban disparity on the
availability of sanitary facilities indicate the gravity of the
problem. The NSS data indicate that 84.4 per cent of rural
households are devoid of toilet facilities; in the case of urban
areas it is 23 per cent.
Government of India by recognizing the importance of
health in the process of economic and social development and
improving the quality of life of Indian citizens it launched
National Rural Health Mission for the effective basic health
care system. It adopted the holistic approach by integrating
into nutrition, sanitation, hygiene and safe drinking water. It
under took a number of measures like improving health infra-
structure, pooling resources, integration of organization struc-
ture, optimization of health man power etc. The goal of the
mission is to improve the availability of and access to quality
health care by people especially for those residing in the rural
areas, poor, women and children. At the international level
world Human Development Report and the reports prepared
by World Health Organization reflect the health status of dif-
ferent countries and the report reflected India’s position also.
India also prepares country human development report. Min-
istry of Health and Family Welfare maintains the data related
to health status. Over a period of time Government of India
has increased the health expenditure in GDP.
AGRICULTURE
The agricultural sector has always been an important con-
tributor to the India GDP. This is due to the fact that the coun-
try is mainly based on the agriculture sector and employs
around 60% of the total workforce in India. The agricultural
sector contributed around 18.6% to India GDP in 2005-06.
Agriculture is the mainstay of most post-colonial countries.
It supports roughly two-thirds of the workforce. But the lion's
share of India's national resources is directed to the non-
agricultural sector, as is evident from the Table 8.
Table 8
Sector-wise share in Gross Domestic Product (in percentage)
Sector 1950- 1970- 1990- 1995- 2005-
51 71 91 96 06
Agriculture 48.7 39.7 28.7 25.0 18.6
including
livestock
Forestry 6.0 4.0 1.5 1.0 0.9
Fishing 0.7 0.8 0.9 - -
All other 44.6 55.5 69.1 73.1 80.5
sources
Source: NSS, 2005
The agricultural sector has been growing at less than half
the pace of the other sectors. During the Seventh Plan, agricul-
ture and allied sectors grew at a rate of 3.4 per cent, while the
national economy grew at 6 per cent. In 1997-98, there was a
negative growth of 2 percent in the agricultural sector, alt-
hough the national economy grew by 5 per cent. The slower
rate of growth of agriculture has serious implications for the
rural-urban relationship. In an article in Alternative Economic
Survey, Kripa Shankar has shown that it results in the further
widening of the divide, as the following data relating to agri-
cultural and non-agricultural gross domestic product (GDP)
at 1980-81 prices indicate. The GDP per agricultural worker
was Rs.2,442.49 in 1950-51, followed by Rs.3,196 in 1970-71
and Rs.3,627 in 1995-96. The GDP per non-agricultural worker
rose sharply from Rs.4, 469.63 in 1950-51 to Rs.9,179 in 1970-71
and to Rs.16,715.08 in 1995-96. There has been a further steep
rise after the Central government accepted the Structural Ad-
justment Programme. While the GDP per agricultural worker
rose from Rs.3,544.98 in 1990-91 to Rs.3,627 in 1995-96, the per
non-agricultural worker rise was from Rs.14,660 to
Rs.16,715.08 during the same period. The data tend to show
that the ratio between the agricultural output per farm worker
and the average output per non-farm worker, which was
1:1.83 in 1950-51, rose to 1:4.6 in 1995-96.
The introduction of the policy of liberalization has affected
non-farm employment in rural areas. In 1997-98, the annual
increase in non-farm employment in rural areas was 4.06 per-
cent. In 1983-84 it was 3.28 per cent. During 1999-2000 it came
down to 2.14 per cent. The consequence has been a very slow
reduction in rural poverty. In 1993-94 it was 39.36 percent, in
1999-2000 the figure came down marginally to 36.35 percent.
Agricultural investments account for 10 per cent of the total
investments in the country. The neglect of agriculture and
allied sectors is evident from the budgetary allocation. It has
never been more than 20 per cent. In 1997-98 the Central and
State governments spent Rs.12,000 crores on the police, which
was marginally lower than the Central and State plan outlay
on agriculture and allied activities.
According to one estimate, the average income of an urban
dweller is four times higher than that of a rural dweller. Rural
deprivation becomes crystal clear if we look at the data on
rural India's contribution to the GDP and what the rural areas
get back. Rural contribution is 27 percent but the return is 5
per cent.
The Human Development Report of India (2001) attempted
to divide the rural and urban household on the basis of their
incomes as shown in the Table 9. The income status is reflect-
ed in the per capita consumption expenditure. In 1999-2000
the per capita per month consumption expenditure on the
rural areas was Rs.486.08 and in the case of urban areas it was
Rs.854.96, according to HDR 2001.
In the Human Development Index prepared by the Plan-
ning Commission, there is a significant divide. The value for
rural areas is 0.340, in the case of urban areas it is as high as
0.511. The index is a composite of variables capturing attain-
ments in three dimensions of human development namely,
economic, educational and health. The same is the situation in
respect of the Human Poverty Index: rural 42.25 and urban
44.8.

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International Journal of Advancements in Research & Technology, Volume 1, Issue 5, October-2012 5
ISSN 2278-7763

nomic reforms. This period also recorded a decline in the inci-

Table 9 dence of poverty and improvement in parameters of human de-
Rural-Urban Household Income (in percentage) velopment such as levels of literacy, health and nutrition condi-
Income Groups Rural Urban tions. Development policies focussed on enhanced and targeted
Low Income(Rs.20,000) 65,4 36.7 public investments in programmes that facilitated improvements
Lower Middle(Rs.20,001-40,000) 23.2 33.1 in the quality of life of the masses, but the disparity remains.
Middle(Rs.40,001-62,000) 7.5 17.1 Abusalef Shariff and others, in an article in Economic and Politi-
Upper Middle(Rs.62,001-86,000) 2.5 7.8 cal Weekly (March 1, 2002), have shown that while the share of
High Income 1.4 5.3 expenditure on urban poverty alleviation programmes in the
total budgetary allocation by the Central government declined
Source: Human Development Report of India, 2001
from 1 per cent to 0.8 percent during the period between 1990-91
Data collected by the National Sample Survey Organization and 2000-01, the per capita expenditure for urban poor increased
(NSSO) shows that the average per capita expenditure from Rs.11 to Rs.28 during the same period. But for the rural
(MPCE) in rural India during 2000-01 amounted to Rs.499.90, poor, the per capita expenditure it is just one-eighth of this.
which was a little over the corresponding figure of Rs.914.57
for an urban dweller. Interestingly, the gap between the aver- Table 11
age for urban and rural areas has widened by over 8 percent- Estimates of Poverty (in percentage)
age points between 1987-88 and 2000-01. As 1987-88 was a Year All India Rural Urban
drought year, the increase in the disparity level is all the more 1973-74 54.9 54.4 49.0
significant. The NSSO data show that while 75 per cent of the 1977-78 51.3 53.1 45.2
country's population in 2000-01 resided in rural areas, they 1983-84 44.5 45.7 40.8
accounted for less than 62 per cent of the total consumption 1987-88 38.9 39.1 38.2
expenditure 1993-94 36.0 37.3 32.4
1999-00 26.1 27.1 23.6
Table 10
2004-05 27.5(URP) 28.3(URP) 25.7(URP)
Per 1000 Distribution of Households and Population by
MPCE Class 21.8(MRP) 21.8(MRP) 21.7(MRP)
Rural Urban Source: Economic Survey, 2005-06, Ministry of Finance, GOI
Rs. House Pop- Rs. House Pop-
-holds ul- -holds ul-
ation ation
WORK-PARTICIPATION RATE
Less 36 42 Less than 24 31 The labour force participation rate is an overall indicator of
than 225 300 the level of market activity and its breakdown by sex and age
225-255 32 39 300-350 22 32 group gives a profile of the distribution of the economically
255-300 71 84 350-425 61 84 active population within a country. Work force participation
300-340 80 93 425-500 72 90 rate in rural areas is higher with 41.9% where as it is 32.2% in
urban areas. Among the workforce participation in rural area
340-380 92 102 500-575 72 88
male constitute 52.4 % and female contributes 30.9%. Female
380-420 93 100 575-665 85 95
contribution in urban area is only 11.6%.
420-470 105 109 665-775 96 102
470-525 99 97 775-915 103 101 Table 12
525-615 122 113 915-1120 126 116 Work Participation Rate
615-775 121 104 1120-1500 140 119 India Total Population Total Workers Work Partici-
775-950 63 52 1500-1925 78 61 pation Rate
950 & 84 63 1925 & 121 81 2011 Total M F Total M F Total M F
above above Total 1025 53042 49482 40251 27546 12704 39.3 51.9 25.7
Source: Employment and Unemployment situation in India, 2510 2415 8644 2190 3736 8454
NSS 60th Round, Jan-June, 2005. 59
Rural 7402 38043 35981 31065 19919 11145 41.9 52.4 30.9
The above shows the Monthly Percapita Expenditure of 5537 8194 7177 5339 9602 5737
household in rural and urban areas in the 2004. The expendi- 1
ture pattern of the rural area is lower than the urban areas Urban 2849 14998 13501 91856 76264 15592 32.2 50.9 11.6
9568 4221 1467 851 134 717
POVERTY 8
Source: Census of India, 2011
If we look at the poverty data, a similar situation is noticed. India,
a developing economy of over a billion people, recorded a rela-
tively high economic growth during 1980-2000, especially dur-
ing the 1990s, a decade known for noteworthy structural eco-

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International Journal of Advancements in Research & Technology, Volume 1, Issue 5, October-2012
ISSN 2278-7763
5 POLICY IMPLICATIONS
The sharp increase in rural-urban disparities in India after
decades of planned development is alarming. Planning is consid-
ered as an instrument to narrow down such disparities. India
introduced centralized planning after independence for the over-
all socio-economic development of the country. India adopted
five year and annual plans. The five year plans provide the over-
all direction and basic framework for policies, programmes and
schemes for the ministries. Over the last six decades India’s plan-
ning process has increasingly recognized the need to address the
rural-urban divide and considerable budget allocation addressed
these needs. Still differences persist. Along with the rural-urban
divide gender inequalities also visible both in rural and urban
areas. By realizing gender inequalities in rural and urban areas
the government of India introduced monitoring of 27 beneficiary
oriented schemes for women by the then department of women
and child development in the seventh plan. The eighth plan peri-
od (1992-1997) highlighted the need for funds for the develop-
ment of women. The monitoring of more schemes related to
women was continued.
Apart from this, the ministry of finance established expert
group in the year 2004 and recommended the establishment of
gender budget cells in all departments. In the ninth plan
(1997-2002) women’s component plan is adopted which en-
sures not less than 30% of the funds or benefits are earmarked
in women related sectors. The tenth plan (2002-2007) adopted
women’s component plan and gender budgeting. Eleventh
plan (2007-2012) mandated to establish the gender budget
cells in all ministries and departments. In the year 2005-2006
budgetary allocations under ten demands for grants estimated
at a total of Rs.14,379 crore were shown in a separate gender
budget statement. In the 2006-2007 budget speech revealed an
estimated allocation of Rs.28,737 crore for benefit of women
under 24 demands for grants in 18 ministries and depart-
ments. The Government of India also adopted gender main-
streaming approach and the ministry of women and child
development will serve as a nodal agency for gender budget-
ing and gender mainstreaming programmes. 
6 CONCLUSION
Apart from taking steps to increase human development facili-
ties in the villages, such as health and education, and develop
appropriate infrastructure such as roads and marketing facilities,
there is the need for generating employment, which can better
the living conditions of villagers. We need to adopt a long-term
policy, keeping in mind the requirements of the rural and urban
areas. A close look at the development plan exercises tends to
demonstrate that ad-hocism permeates the policy processes.
In the rural areas there are many resources lying unutilised. It
is time to identify these and make proper use of them. The appli-
cation of Information Technology can be of great help in identify-
ing what is lying unutilised or underutilised.
In West Bengal, it is being done in some rural and municipal
areas. Jalpaiguri has done a remarkable job in this regard. It is the
only district in the State to go in for participatory decentralised
planning. Under this programme, the people themselves pre-
pared village registers, electoral constituency-wise (gram
sansad). These registers are mines of information, and they rec-
Copyright © 2012 SciResPub.
6
ord the people's perceptions of development. The database is
important for the development planning exercise.
Kerala has shown the way through the people's campaign
for decentralised planning. Rural-urban disparity is the least
in Kerala. There is a rural-urban continuum, rather than a di-
vide. The people's campaign has definitely helped to make
further improvement in the situation. The fact, however, re-
mains that these steps at the State level, no matter how signifi-
cant they are, cannot fully take care of the problem unless
there is a shift of policy at the national level. This calls for sus-
tained pressure from the bottom, that is, rural India. Secondly,
urban development in a country like India has to dovetail
with rural development. Otherwise, rural out migration will
upset the applecart.
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